PT 5:07.33 - Instructional happening
[We Can Create]
Held as a side event as part of We Can Create on August 25th, 2011 at the Old Folks Coronation Hall on Gundry St, Newton. The goal of the event was to share Creative Coalition's purpose with members of the creative industry and to engage more closely with local creative practitioners by collaborating with them.
Five practitioners were asked to design an instruction that would be texted out to those attending and carried out over a round lasting 7 mins 33 seconds. The happening was inspired by the fluxus movement of the 1960s that encouraged audiences to actively participate in art by becoming part of an artistic scene through instructions from the artist.
Artist explanations of the intention behind their instruction/s and observations from the happening are accompanied by videos of each round, see below.
Many thanks to Davian Lorson of Rooftops Media for filming and editing the happening. A warm thanks to the artists and performers (Graveyard Love and Undrawing) and all those who participated and contributed to the success of the happening!
Event stats
- 25th August 2011
- Old Folks Hall, Newton
- Side event for We Can Create
- sub-sector engaged with: design industry
- 83 participants, 130 attendees
- 20 mailing list sign ups
- 5 artists involved
- 35 facebook likes
Round 1: Instructions by Vibracorp
- Find a bubble blower in the room and blow bubbles.
- Find paper in the room, make a paper plane and send it flying.
- Find empty balloons and blow them up. Then don't let them touch the floor.
Artist reflection -
Vibracorp is a customer-centric fun firm that leverages its investments to service its clientele with unapologetically enjoyable entertainment. Our extensive R&D has shown conclusively that our target market has the maximum amount of fun when given the opportunity to regress to the play activities of their childhood, so we crafted our instructions with this in mind. The voice of David Attenborough describing various bird calls presided like a comforting father figure over participants who frolicked with balloons, paper planes and bubbles, allowing their minds to become sedate and receptive to future instructions.
Analysis of the happening leads us to conclude that the spectacle did not have the desired uniform visual impact that might have occurred if all activities were carried out in a more synchronised fashion. However, participants did exceed expectations by adding their own creative interpretations into the mix. Examples of this can be seen in the interesting effects of bubbles crossing the projector beam, and balloons merging with bubbles to make new hybrid forms. Ultimately, one can conclude that playdough would have made everything better.
Round 2: Instructions by Becca Wood
- Text a friend and ask them to send you an instruction for you to do here in the hall - perform the instruction when you have received it from your friend.
- 4'33” Don't talk. Listen [Didn't end up happening]
- Write a love letter describing tonight’s event. Put this in the envelopes and address it to someone in New Zealand. Leave it in this space to be posted.
- Remember how you entered the space and re-enact it going backwards to the place through which you entered.
- Find a tag and write what's on your mind - tag someone when you leave, or on your way home put it on your favourite post.
Round 3: Instruction by Louise Menzies and Karin Hofko
- Go outside.
Round 4: Instructions by Mark Harvey
- Try to wrestle someone from another group to the floor, while telling them about your political preferences. And do this with as many people as you can.
- Try to give hugs as many peoples as you can, while telling them about what you do not like. And do this with as many people as you can.
- Try to look into the eyes of other individuals and give a deep heart-felt smile, while avoiding physical contact. And do this with as many people as you can.
- Try to whisper to other individuals why u have chosen to wear the clothes you have on, while avoiding physical contact. Do this with as many people as you can.
- Try to preach to others why fools should unite, while holding a 'Fools of the World Unite' flag.
Artist reflection -
I chose these instructions as I was interested in testing out a sense of audience participation in relation to notions of foolishness. I am connected to a Danish/Icelandic performance project called Fools of The World Unite. In my practice I am very often interested in physical tasks and foolish things, as well as audience involvement. I had no idea how people would react and no expectations, apart from expecting more of a formal performance setting instead of a party, but this was no problem.
On the night I noticed some were doing things and others not. I would try a more formal performance event next time with punters sitting around - just to test different contexts of crowd behaviour. It was mostly a lot of fun and an enjoyable, relaxed vibe.
Round 5: Instructions by Sensitive Boyfriend
- Split into two groups, one female, one male. Steal glances at each other until you can't wait any longer, then form a circle and take turns dancing in it.
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Find a dance partner. You are in a dancing competition.
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Form two lines, in pairs dance down between the lines. Do the hustle!
- Find someone to slow dance with. Group slow dancing is fine, encouraged, even. Get a phone number, if you can.
Artist reflection -
Sensitive boyfriend tries to bring people together, one idea at a time. This one was a bit more literal about it... I thought that it needed to be a simple idea, and one that people could easily, and enjoyably get into. The idea of high school slow-dancing came into my head. It just seemed funny to dim the lights, start the music, and make people go from strangers to intimates, from mature adults to sweaty adolescents. However, sometimes what is theoretically funny (strangers being forced to slow dance) is less funny in reality. I can joke about awkwardness, but actual awkwardness is my nightmare.
I thought the night was amazing - it was well-attended and organised, and had a raw, fun, relaxed vibe. The slow dancing thing wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, because if people didn't want to do it, they could just not. And anyone who did, seemed like they were having a good time. I liked how people just handed themselves over to the game. There was an air of anticipation about getting a txt. But also if people didn't feel like doing something, they could just sit back and observe. I liked the (very well-) organised anarchy of it all.
If I was suggest what to do differently for future happenings I might propose having something that eased the crowd into the idea of the happening and enhanced the fun of the experience even further, avoiding the more weird or awkward aspects. I was reading about the title sequences of movies - they're like a bridge to get people into the world of the movie, and you do need a bit of a bridge with something like this.
All in all, I liked how well-organised it was - I just had to think of something, and you guys took it from there. I guess some of my last experiences in group creativity haven't been that good. I've had to expend a lot of effort, without really having any control over what was happening - the people in charge just give you a space, and no other support. I loved that you guys just had everything set up, took control of everything in a helpful way, and it played out so well.